Samsung Reshuffles Dozens of Executives in Management Shake Up

In line with whispers, Samsung has made its move: It has reshuffled its executives in an effort to reverse falling profits, people familiar with the matter have revealed to the Wall Street Journal.

Samsung Group will promote only 165 executives for 2015 at Samsung Electronics, compared to 227 a year ago. There is one strong argument to back this move: The company has been struggling to reach an annual smartphone sales target of 500 million units, but that seems difficult to achieve. IBK Securities analyst Lee Seung-woo estimates Samsung will ship 320 million units this year.

Although the reorganization plan is not yet official, it involves multiple divisions, one of which is the media solutions center. Its president was reassigned to lead Samsung’s global marketing strategy office, but his post remains vacant.

Another target is the mobile division: While the CEO remains in place, some president-level executives were moved.

As a next step, Samsung has plans to reduce the number of handsets it will launch next year by up to 30%, to reduce costs and reverse declining earnings.